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Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Gunmen kill 25 in restive central Nigeria
Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by violence between nomadic herders and farmers. (AFP pic) JOS : Gunmen over the weekend killed 25 people in two attacks across north-central Nigeria's Benue state, local authorities told AFP today, the latest violence in a region known for deadly land disputes and reprisals. Attackers killed 14 people yesterday in the community of Ankpali, said Adam Ochega, chairman of the Apa local government council, warning that 'there are still some threats here and there'. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, in Benue over access to land and resources. In a recent report, Amnesty International tallied 6,896 people killed over the last two years in Benue, part of Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, a mixed-religious region where such disputes often take on a sectarian dimension. A police spokesman confirmed the attack but did not provide a toll. In a similar attack yesterday evening on Naka village, of Gwer West local government area, 11 people were killed by what authorities said were suspected Fulani militias. 'So far we have recovered 11 dead bodies and five people are confirmed injured,' Gwer West council chairman Ormin Victor told AFP. Last month, 44 people were killed in a span of four days in Gwer West. Motives for the violence in that attack were not clear, but Victor blamed the 'coordinated attacks' on Fulani cattle herders. Herders across the region meanwhile say they are also the victims of deadly attacks by farmers, land grabs and cattle poisonings. Land used by farmers and herders in central Nigeria is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space. Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by such violence between nomadic herders and farmers who blame herdsmen for destroying farmland with their cattle grazing. When violence flares, weak policing all but guarantees indiscriminate reprisal attacks, which often occur across communal lines. A spate of attacks across Benue and neighbouring Plateau state left more than 150 people dead in April alone. Land grabbing, political and economic tensions between local 'indigenes' and those considered outsiders, as well as an influx of hardline Muslim and Christian preachers, have heightened divisions in Plateau state in recent decades.
Free Malaysia Today
5 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Amnesty says over 10,000 killed in 2 years in north, central Nigeria
Borno state – the epicentre of jihadist violence which has raged in northeast Nigeria since 2009 – was not included in Amnesty's investigations. (EPA Image pic) LAGOS : The number of people killed in violence committed by jihadist groups and criminal gangs topped over 10,000 in two years in central and northern Nigeria, Amnesty International said today. In a report, the global rights group blamed the government of President Bola Tinubu for failure to protect people in swathes of the country hit by raids by jihadists, and criminal gangs known as 'bandits' who attack villages, killing and kidnapping residents. However, Tinubu today insisted that troops deployed in the flashpoints have succeeded in restoring order and tackling threats posed by the militant groups. Massacres also occur in central Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt where herders and farmers often clash over land access, with the attacks often taking on a religious or ethnic dimension. Amnesty's investigation showed that 'in the two years since the current government has been in power, at least 10,217 people have been killed in attacks by gunmen'. Benue state, which lies in the central region, suffered the heaviest death toll of 6,896, followed by Plateau state, where 2,630 people were killed, Amnesty said in a report released to coincide with Tinubu's first two years in office. Of the seven states Amnesty investigated, Borno – the epicentre of jihadist violence which has raged in northeast Nigeria since 2009 – was not included. When Tinubu came to power two years ago, he vowed that dealing with insecurity was one of the main challenges for his government. 'Instead, things have only gotten worse, as the authorities continue to fail to protect the rights to life, physical integrity, liberty and the security of tens of thousands of people across the country,' said Isa Sanusi, director of Amnesty International Nigeria. Northern states that jihadists and other criminal groups have targeted for several years have seen an upsurge in attacks in recent months. Sanusi said the 'recent escalation of attacks by Boko Haram and other armed groups shows that the security measures implemented by President Tinubu's government are simply not working'. In his second year anniversary speech, Tinubu said Nigerian troops have 'restored order, reducing and eliminating threats to lives and livelihoods' in violence-wracked regions'. 'With the successes achieved, farmers are back tilling the land to feed us. Highways hitherto dangerous for travellers have become safer,' he added. His government is also facing simmering separatist tensions in the southeast.
Al Arabiya
27-05-2025
- General
- Al Arabiya
At least 42 killed in weekend attacks in Nigeria's Benue state: Local official
At least 42 people were shot dead by suspected herders in a series of weekend attacks across Gwer West district in Nigeria's central Benue state, a local official said on Tuesday. Thirty-two bodies were recovered from Sunday's assaults on the Ahume and Aondona villages, while 10 more were killed in a separate attack on the villages of Tyolaha and Tse-Ubiam on Saturday, said Victor Omnin, chairman of the Gwer West local government. 'It's a pathetic situation. As we speak, we are still recovering corpses,' Omnin told journalists. Benue is in Nigeria's Middle Belt, a region where the majority Muslim North meets the largely Christian South. The region faces competition over land use, with conflicts between herders, who seek grazing land for their cattle, and farmers, who need arable land for cultivation. These tensions are often worsened by overlapping ethnic and religious divisions. Benue Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia's office said a Catholic priest was also shot in the area by the assailants, and is in critical but stable condition.
News24
13-05-2025
- Business
- News24
Nigeria sees highest growth in 10 years
Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.4% in 2024, the World Bank said in a new report published on Monday. That's the highest rate of growth since 2014, excluding the 2021-2022 Covid-19 rebound, the bank said. The acceleration in Nigeria's GDP growth was driven mainly by a continued oil and gas sector recovery and strong growth in the tech and finance industries, according to the latest Nigeria Development Update. The World Bank expects the rate of growth of Nigeria's economy to slightly increase in 2025 to 3.7%. At the same time, the country's agriculture sector showed slow growth, the bank warned, because of insecurity in the Middle Belt and high input costs. The Middle Belt refers to a broad sweep of 14 states across the centre of Nigeria. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland have been abandoned there because of ongoing violent clashes, often between farmers and nomadic herdsmen. Nigeria suffers through tough reforms At a presentation of its report in the capital Abuja, the World Bank praised government reforms in Africa's largest economy. President Bola Tinubu implemented a broad swath of economic reforms after winning the 2023 elections. These include ending costly petrol subsidies, slashing electricity allowances and twice devaluing the naira currency. A recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Nigeria also praised the reforms and issued a warning about high levels of poverty. Tinubu recently justified his reforms, stressing that he made what he called 'tough decision' so that Nigeria could grow. We are gradually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Bola Tinubu Inflation to remain high But the reforms have come at a cost for many ordinary Nigerians, who are facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a nearly 30 years, according to Human Rights Watch. Successive years of rising inflation and surges in food prices have seen poverty soar in the West African nation - although some key staples have become cheaper in the past few months. Nearly half of all Nigerians lived in poverty in 2024, the World Bank update found, making Nigeria home to the world's second-largest poor population after India. The 2024 Global Hunger Index ranks Nigeria 110th out of 127 countries. Nearly a third of its children are stunted because of chronic undernutrition. While inflation is expected to fall over the course of this year, it is still forecast to remain high at an average of 22.1%, the World Bank said. 'Labour incomes have not kept up with inflation, depleting the purchasing power of Nigerians. Poverty has deepened and broadened, especially among urban Nigerians,' it said. There is a need for the economy to generate more and better jobs at scale and reduce poverty, the bank noted, especially if it wants to reach its goal of achieving a $1 trillion (€900 billion) economy by 2030.
